A BIBLIOMETRIC PROFILE OF TOP-SCIENTISTS - A CASE-STUDY IN CHEMICAL-ENGINEERING

We carefully selected a group of chemical engineering scientists internationally recognized as 'top-scientists' in their field. A method has been developed to systematically compare bibliometric characteristics of these top-scientists with an 'average scientist' in chemical engineering. This method also includes citation-analysis of books and proceedings. ne results show a very clear 'bibliometric profile'. First, top-scientists reach the maximum of their received citations about a year earlier. Second, they are cited significantly more than the average scientist. Third, top-scientists' references are more numerous and, fourth, they concern more recent literature. Our fifth findings is that the journals used by top-scientists for their publications are representative for the field of chemical engineering as a whole. But they differ in specific aspects significantly from the 'average' journal structure in chemical engineering: the published work of top-scientists is both 'general' as well as more specialistic than the average work in chemical engineering.